Da Scoles Code
Truth is evil, wrong is right and - Hey, John, just get us some beer
John Scoles
Even though I badly need the truth once in awhile, sometimes there’s
a lot of good in the power of fiction.
Someone once gave me a story about how a group of Special Olympians
stopped their race to help a fellow contestant who had tripped
off the starting line. The author of the story went on to comment
on how much people could learn from this moment in terms of how
to approach what are usually thought of as competitive situations.
The story was made up, but it served its purpose nonetheless as
motivation for good people to make themselves even better.
I once made up a story that Steve Fonyo rode in the back of a
van through Quebec during his run across Canada in support of
cancer research. Many people believed my story, and one girl even
threatened to “shank” Fonyo if she ever met him.
Even though I thought it was funny, I didn’t feel like a
good person telling my story, and in case there’s anyone
out there who still believes it to be true, I want to take this
opportunity to emphasize that it was a complete lie.
As part of the ever-popular debate over good and bad, it seems
like every few years a movie comes out that tries to reshape some
aspect of religious belief. This year’s example is The Da
Vinci Code.
The movie had a lot of problems getting released because it is
apparently based on forgeries. I find it ironic that something
which is essentially a lie can get in trouble for being essentially
a lie. I haven’t seen the film yet, but hopefully it’s
a good lie. Nobody likes a bad liar.
On the other hand, though, it seems like a good idea to make bad
movies in general because they are such a great reminder that
much of what we spend our leisure time focusing on isn’t
real. And if something that isn’t real is bad, then it becomes
more good by virtue of its absence, I would suppose.
Other great reminders that reality and good and bad are constantly
in question are more things that aren’t real, such as computer-generated
monsters and more and more women’s breasts. (There are also
a lot of wieners that have a questionable makeup, as long as we’re
on questionable topics.)
It can be very hard to find things to trust or even just to believe
in. And it seems like you need to have a lot of vagueness around
in order to help clarify the situation. It’s kind of like
identifying yourself by what you aren’t rather than by what
you are.
I am not a liar, but I would be lying if I said I’d never
lied. However, I would also be lying if I said I always told the
truth about lying.
Is everything about good and bad and true and false just a bunch
of bullshit?
Perhaps. But as long as your mind is still functional enough to
be able to ask yourself that question, life can’t be all
bad.
And that’s a good thing, isn’t it?
John Scoles is president and janitor of the Times Change(d) High
& Lonesome Club. |
Uptown
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